Displaying social opportunities by location on a map

ABSTRACT

A social networking system provides relevant content objects at the request of social networking system users. Relevance scores are determined for content objects by matching user location, user interests, and other social information to the content, location, and timing associated with content objects. A ranked list of content objects can be provided to the user, where the content objects are relevant to them based on their interests, location, and other social information. The system provides a user interface that displays a map containing pins, where each pin represents a content object in actionable proximity to a user. The content objects selected to be presented as pins to the user are those content objects with sufficiently high relevance scores. Multiple pins for a nearby area can be clustered. The user can switch between zoom levels for the map, thereby showing pins at varying distances from the user&#39;s current location.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/977,027, filed on Dec. 22, 2010, the content of which is incorporatedby reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates generally to social networking, and in particularto providing relevant information for a user of a social networkingsystem based on user location and social information.

Social networking systems have become prevalent in recent years becausethey provide a useful environment in which users can connect to andcommunicate with other users. A variety of different types of socialnetworking systems exist that provide mechanisms allowing users tointeract within their social networks. In this context, a user may be anindividual or any other entity, such as a business or other non-personentity. Accordingly, while enabling social communications among friends,a social networking system can also be a valuable tool for businesses toengage with potential consumers.

However, users of social networking systems traditionally have not beenable to obtain information that is relevant and timely based on theirinterests, connections to others, and particular locations. Users havenot yet been able to exploit the relationships and connections amongmembers of a social networking website, nor the rich user informationcontained therein, in a meaningful way. Similarly, third-party contentproviders, such as businesses, also have not been able to exploit socialnetworking systems to provide information at the appropriate time andplace to best take advantage of a potential customer's interest.

SUMMARY

To enable a social networking system to provide relevant content objectsat the request of social networking system users, embodiments of theinvention provide a mechanism for matching user location, interests, andother social information with the content, location, and timingassociated with content objects, including both third-party contentobjects and user generated content objects. In particular, embodimentsof the invention enable relevance scores to be calculated for contentobjects with respect to relevance specific to a user of the socialnetworking system, from which a ranked list of content objects can beprovided to the user, where the content objects are relevant to thembased on their interests, location, and other social information.

In one embodiment, the social networking system provides a userinterface on a mobile device displays a map containing pins, where eachpin represents a content object in actionable proximity to a user (e.g.,a nearby friend, deal, etc.). The content objects selected to bepresented as pins to the user are those content objects withsufficiently high relevance scores. Multiple pins for a nearby area canbe clustered. The user can switch between zoom levels for the map,thereby showing pins at varying distances from the user's currentlocation (e.g., nearby, close, and far). In one embodiment, the zoomlevels are based on the existence of relevant content rather than beingpredetermined distances from the user. In one embodiment, the system isconfigured to receive a request from the user to automatically selectthe content object with the highest relevance score instead ofdisplaying the map of pins.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a network diagram of one embodiment of a system for respondingto the requests of social networking system user regarding nearby,relevant activities.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a social networking system, in accordance with anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is an interaction diagram of one embodiment of a process forresponding to a request for information relevant to a user of a socialnetworking system based on user location and social information.

FIG. 4 is a series of sample screenshots illustrating how a clientdevice may display information regarding nearby activities relevant to auser of a social networking system responsive to the user's request.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview of a Social Networking System Network

FIG. 1 is a network diagram of one embodiment of a system for respondingto the requests of social networking system user (e.g., member)regarding nearby, relevant activities. The system 100 includes one ormore user devices 110, one or more third-party content object provider120, the social networking system 130 and a network 140. For purposes ofillustration, the embodiment of the system 100 shown by FIG. 1 includesa single third-party content object provider 120 and a single userdevice 110. However, in other embodiments, the system 100 may includemore user devices 110 and/or more third-party content object providers120. In certain embodiments, the social networking system 130 isoperated by the social network provider, whereas the third-party contentobject providers 120 are separate from the social networking system 130in that they may be operated by different entities. In variousembodiments, however, the social networking system 130 and thethird-party content object providers 120 operate in conjunction toprovide social networking services to users of the social networkingsystem 130. In this sense, the social networking system 130 provides aplatform, or backbone, which other systems, such as third-party contentobject providers 120, may use to provide social networking services andfunctionalities to users across the Internet.

A user device 110 comprises one or more computing devices that canreceive input from a user and can transmit and receive data via thenetwork 140. For example, the user device 110 may be a desktop computer,a laptop computer, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDAs) orany other device including computing functionality and datacommunication capabilities. The user device 110 is configured tocommunicate with the third-party content object provider 120 and thesocial networking system 130 via the network 140, which may comprise anycombination of local area and/or wide area networks, using both wiredand wireless communication systems. In one embodiment, the user device110 displays content from the third-party content object provider 120and/or from the social networking system 130.

The third-party content object provider 120 comprises one or moresources of content objects, which are communicated to the user device110 at appropriate times. In one embodiment, the third-party contentobject provider 120 is a separate entity from the social networkingsystem 130. For example, the third-party content object provider 120 isassociated with a first domain while the social networking system 130 isassociated with a separate social networking domain. In variousembodiments, the third-party content object provider 120 is located on awebsite or alternatively a server, separate or in conjunction from thewebsite or server that hosts the social networking system 130.

The third-party content objects, as the term is used herein, include anycontent object generated by a third-party content object provider 120rather than by a user of the social networking system 130. Contentobjects generally may include information regarding things or activitiesof interest to the user. Third-party content objects includeinformational content objects, such as movie show times, movie reviews,restaurant reviews, restaurant menus, product information and reviews,etc., as well as incentive content objects, such as coupons, discounttickets, gift certificates, etc. according to one embodiment. Inaddition, some third-party content objects may include a combination ofinformation and incentives. Other examples of content objects includeevent content objects associated with an event (e.g., a New Year's Eveparty) or ad-hoc gathering objects (e.g., an impromptu gathering of 100people in Union Square, San Francisco). Examples of content objects andthe ways in which content objects may be presented or used are describedbelow.

The social networking system 130 comprises one or more computing devicesstoring a social network, or a social graph, comprising a plurality ofusers and providing users of the social network with the ability tocommunicate and interact with other users of the social network.According to various embodiments, the social networking system 130 maycomprise a website, or alternatively a server that can be accessedthrough a wired or wireless network 140 by user devices 110 orthird-party content object providers 120. In use, users join the socialnetworking system 130 and then add connections (i.e., relationships) toa number of other users of the social networking system 130 to whom theydesire to be connected. As used herein, the term “friend” refers to anyother user of the social networking system 130 to whom a user has formeda connection, association, or relationship via the social networkingsystem 130. Connections may be added explicitly by a user or may beautomatically created by the social networking systems 130 based oncommon characteristics of the users (e.g., users who are alumni of thesame educational institution). For example, a first user specificallyselects a particular other user to be a friend. Connections in thesocial networking system 130 are usually in both directions, but neednot be, so the terms “user” and “friend” depend on the frame ofreference. Connections between users of the social networking system 130are usually bilateral, or “mutual,” but connections may also beunilateral, or “one-way.” For example, if Bob and Joe are both users ofthe social networking system 130 and connected to each other, Bob andJoe are each other's connections. If, on the other hand, Bob wishes toconnect to Joe to view data communicated to the social networking systemby Joe but Joe does not wish to form a mutual connection, a unilateralconnection may be established. The connection between users may be adirect connection; however, some embodiments of a social networkingsystem allow the connection to be indirect via one or more levels ofconnections or degrees or separation. Using a social graph, therefore, asocial networking system may keep track of many different types ofobjects and the interactions and connections among those objects,thereby maintaining an extremely rich store of socially relevantinformation.

In addition to establishing and maintaining connections between usersand allowing interactions between users, the social networking system130 provides users with the ability to take actions on various types ofitems, or objects, supported by the social networking system 130. Theseitems may include groups or networks (where “networks” here refer not tophysical communication networks, but rather social networks of people,entities, and concepts) to which users of the social networking systemmay belong, events or calendar entries in which a user might beinterested, computer-based applications that a user may use via thesocial networking system 130, transactions that allow users to buy orsell items via the service, and interactions with advertisements that auser may perform on or off the social networking system.

These are just a few examples of the items upon which a user may act ona social networking system, and many others are possible. A user mayinteract with anything that is capable of being represented in thesocial networking system 130 or by an external system of the third-partycontent object provider 120, which is separate from the socialnetworking system 130 and coupled to the social networking system 130via a network 140.

The social networking system 130 is also capable of linking a variety ofentities. For example, the social networking system 130 enables users tointeract with each other as well as receive content from third-partycontent object providers 120 or other entities, or to allow users tointeract with these entities through an API or other communicationchannels.

The social networking system 130 also includes user-generated contentobjects, which enhances a user's interactions with the social networkingsystem 130. User-generated content may include anything a user can add,upload, send, or “post,” to the social networking system 130. Forexample, a user communicates posts to the social networking system 130from a user device 110. Posts may include data such as status updates orother textual data, location information, photos, videos, links, musicor other similar data and/or media. Content may also be added to thesocial networking system 130 by a third-party through a “communicationchannel,” such as a newsfeed or stream.

Content objects, generally, represent single pieces of content that arerepresented as objects in the social networking system 130. In this way,users of the social networking system 130 are encouraged to communicatewith each other by posting text and content objects of various typesthrough various communication channels, increasing the interaction ofusers with each other and increasing the frequency with which usersinteract with the social networking system 130.

Social Networking System Architecture

FIG. 2 is a diagram of one embodiment of a social networking system 130.The embodiment of a social networking system 130 shown by FIG. 2includes a web server 210, an action logger 215, an API request server220, a relevance and ranking engine 225, a content object classifier260, a notification controller 265, an action log 230, a third-partycontent object exposure log 270, an inference module 275, anauthorization server 235, a search module 280, an ad targeting module285, a user interface module 290, a user profile store 240, a connectionstore 245, a third-party content store 250, and a location store 255. Inother embodiments, the social networking system 130 may includeadditional, fewer, or different modules for various applications.Conventional components such as network interfaces, security mechanisms,load balancers, failover servers, management and network operationsconsoles, and the like are not shown so as to not obscure the details ofthe system.

As described above in conjunction with FIG. 1, the social networkingsystem 130 comprises a computing system that allows users to communicateor otherwise interact with each other and access content as describedherein. The social networking system 130 stores user profiles describingthe users of a social network in a user profile store 240. The userprofiles include biographic, demographic, and other types of descriptiveinformation, such as work experience, educational history, hobbies orpreferences, interests, location, and the like. For example, the userprofile store 240 contains data structures with fields suitable fordescribing a user's profile. When a new object of a particular type iscreated, the social networking system 130 initializes a new datastructure, i.e., a “node” of the corresponding type, assigns a uniqueobject identifier to it, and begins to add data to the object as needed.This might occur, for example, when a user becomes a user of the socialnetworking system 130, the social networking system 130 generates a newinstance of a user profile in the user profile store 240, assigns aunique identifier to the user profile, and begins to populate the fieldsof the user profile with information provided by the user.

In addition, the user profile store 240 may include data structuressuitable for describing a user's demographic data, behavioral data, andother social data. Demographic data typically includes data about theuser, such as age, gender, location, etc., e.g., as included in theuser's profile. Behavioral data typically includes information about theuser's activities within the social networking system 130, such asspecific actions (posts, likes, comments, etc.), activity levels, usagestatistics, etc. Other social data comprises information about the userfrom within the social networking system 130 that is not strictlydemographic or behavioral, such as interests or affinities, etc. In oneembodiment, user's interests may be explicitly specified in the user'sprofile or interests that may be inferred from the user's activities inthe social networking system (e.g., uploaded content, postings, readingof messages, etc). Additionally, the user profile store 240 includeslogic for maintaining user interest information for users according toone or more categories. Categories may be general or specific, e.g., ifa user “likes” an article about a brand of shoes the category may be thebrand, or the general category of “shoes” or “clothing.” Multiplecategories may apply to a single user interest. In addition, the userprofile store 240 may be accessed by other aspects of the socialnetworking system 130.

For example, the user profile store 240 includes logic for maintaininginterest information for users according to one or more categories.Categories may be general or specific, e.g., if a user “likes” anarticle about a brand of shoes the category may be the brand, or thegeneral category of “shoes” or “clothing.” Multiple categories may applyto a single user interest. In addition, the user profile store 240 maybe accessed by other aspects of the social networking system 130.

The social networking system 130 further stores data describing one ormore connections between different users in a user connection store 245.The connection information may indicate users who have similar or commonwork experience, group memberships, hobbies, educational history, or arein any way related or share common attributes. Additionally, the socialnetworking system 130 includes user-defined connections betweendifferent users, allowing users to specify their relationships withother users. For example, user-defined connections allow users togenerate relationships with other users that parallel the users'real-life relationships, such as friends, co-workers, partners, and soforth. Users may select from predefined types of connections, or definetheir own connection types as needed. The connection store 245 includesdata structures suitable for describing a user's connections to otherusers, connections to third-party content object providers 120, orconnections to other entities. The connection stores 245 may alsoassociate a connection type with a user's connections, which may be usedin conjunction with the user's privacy setting, to regulate access toinformation about the user. In addition, the connection store 245 may beaccessed by other aspects of the social networking system 130.

The web server 210 links the social networking system to one or moreuser devices 110 and/or one or more third-party content object providers120 via the network 140. The web server 210 serves web pages, as well asother web-related content, such as Java, Flash, XML, and so forth. Theweb server 210 may include a mail server or other messagingfunctionality for receiving and routing messages between the socialnetworking system 130 and one or more user devices 110. The messages canbe instant messages, queued messages (e.g., email), text and SMSmessages, or any other suitable messaging format.

The Application Programming Interface (API) request server 220 allowsone or more third-party content object providers 120 to accessinformation from the social networking system 130 by calling one or moreAPIs. The API request server 220 also may allow third-party contentobject providers 120 to send information to the social networking systemby calling APIs. For example, a third-party content object provider 120sends an API request to the social networking system 130 via the network140 and the API request server 220 receives the API request. The APIrequest server 220 processes the request by calling an API associatedwith the API request to generate an appropriate response, which the APIrequest server 220 communicates to the third-party content objectprovider 120 via the network 140.

The action logger 215 is capable of receiving communications from theweb server 210 about user actions on and/or off the social networkingsystem 130. The action logger 215 populates the action log 230 withinformation about user actions, allowing the social networking system130 to track or monitor various actions taken by its users within thesocial networking system 130 and outside of the social networking system130. Any action that a particular user takes with respect to anotheruser is associated with each user's profile, through informationmaintained in the action log 230 or in a similar database or other datarepository. Examples of actions taken by a user within the socialnetwork 130 that are identified and stored may include, for example,adding a connection to another user, sending a message to another user,reading a message from another user, viewing content associated withanother user, attending an event posted by another user or other actionsinteracting with another user. When a user takes an action within thesocial networking system 130, the action is recorded in the action log230. In one embodiment, the social networking system maintains theaction log 230 as a database of entries. When an action is taken withinthe social networking system 130, an entry for the action is added tothe action log 230. The relevance and ranking engine 225 includes logicfor calculating a relevance score for content objects (including bothuser-generated content objects and third-party content objects) relativeto a user, for ranking the content objects by their relevance scores,and for selecting content objects for sending to users as notificationsor as responses to user requests. To calculate the relevance score, therelevance and ranking engine 225 determines a location value bycomparing the content object location and a current location for theuser device 210, determines an interest value based on whether thecontent object categories are included in the user's interests,determines a time value based on whether the current time is within thedelivery time range for the content object, and determines a connectionvalue based on how many of the user's connections are associated withthe content object. Then, the relevance and ranking engine 225 combinesthe location value, interest value, connection value, and time value todetermine the relevance score for the content object with respect to theuser. In one embodiment the values are higher for a better fit (closerproximity, great similarity, etc.) and approach a value of one, and aremultiplied together to yield the relevance score. From the relevancescores for each content object, the relevance and ranking engine 225ranks the content objects for a user, e.g., from highest relevance scoreto lowest. The relevance and ranking engine 225 then can select contentobjects to send to a notification controller 265, or can serve thehighest ranked content object directly to the user device 110 as anotification(s).

The content object classifier 260 includes logic for assigning each ofthe content objects a location, a category, and a delivery time range.Categories may reflect various categories of user interests, and may beassociated with the interests themselves, e.g., a user “likes” anarticle about a brand of shoes and the category is the brand, or thearticle about the shoe brand is assigned a general category of “shoes”or “clothing.” Multiple categories may apply to a single content object.General or specific locations may be assigned to content objects aswell, e.g., a city, a particular street name or intersection, or GPScoordinates. A delivery time range is assigned to each content object,e.g., using a useful range based on the hours the associated business isopen.

Additionally, user actions may be associated with exposure tothird-party content objects from one or more third-party content objectproviders 120. Thus, in conjunction with the action log 230, athird-party content object log 270 is maintained of user exposures tosuch objects and when the last exposure occurred. The action logger 215receives data describing a user's interaction with an object and storesit to the third-party content object log 270. The third-party contentobject log 270 includes logic for storing user exposures to third-partycontent objects and associations between users and objects. The exposureinformation can be used to determine whether to expose the user to thesame or similar content objects, and for adjusting the ranking andselection of content objects on the basis of whether the user previouslyhas been exposed to the same or similar content object. In addition, ifa user becomes associated with a content object via an action, e.g.,uses an incentive, goes to the location, etc., that information also isstored, and can be used for re-ranking and re-selecting the contentobjects.

The notification controller 265 provides information regarding contentobjects to the user device 110. Information may be pushed to the userdevice 110 as notifications, or information may be pulled to the userdevice responsive to a request received from the user device 110. In thepush circumstance, notifications of content objects are initially pushedaccording to a default rate. Based on user engagement with thenotifications, the notification controller 265 may adjust the rate inwhich notifications are provided to the user device 110. By adjustingthe initial settings, the notification controller 265 providesnotifications of content objects to the user device 110 when the user ismore likely to engage with the notifications. Information may be pulledto the user device at any time. Additionally, the type of content thatis provided to the client device 110 may be updated based on the userengagement.

The authorization server 235 enforces one or more privacy settings ofthe users of the social networking system 130. A privacy setting of auser determines how particular information associated with a user can beshared. The privacy setting comprises the specification of particularinformation associated with a user and the specification of the entityor entities with whom the information can be shared. Examples ofentities with which information can be shared may include other users,applications, external websites or any entity that can potentiallyaccess the information. The information that can be shared by a usercomprises user profile information like profile photo, phone numbersassociated with the user, user's connections, actions taken by the usersuch as adding a connection, changing user profile information and thelike.

The useful social information that is tracked and maintained by a socialnetworking system can be thought of in terms of a “social graph,” whichincludes a plurality of nodes that are interconnected by a plurality ofedges. Each node in the social graph may represent something that canact on and/or be acted upon by another node. Common examples of nodesinclude users, non-person entities, content objects, groups, events,messages, concepts, and any other things that can be represented by anobject in a social networking system. An edge between two nodes in thesocial graph represents a particular kind of connection between the twonodes, which may result from an action that was performed by one of thenodes on the other node.

The social networking system 130 may receive a request to associate theweb content with a node in the social networking system 130. An externalwebsite (e.g., of the third party content object provider 130)incorporates a tag into the markup language document for the web page(s)of the web content to claim ownership of the pages/domain in the contextof the social networking system 130. In some cases, an entire domain orcollection of web pages is associated with a unique identifier thatassociates the web pages with a node. Once established, the socialnetworking system 130 tracks data associated with the node in the actionlog 230.

Data stored in the connection store 245, the user profile store 240 andthe action log 230 allows the social networking system 120 to generate asocial graph that uses nodes to identify various objects and edgesconnecting nodes to identify relationships between different objects. Anedge between two nodes in the social graph represents a particular kindof connection between the two nodes, which may result from an actionthat was performed by one of the nodes on the other node.

The third-party content object store 250 stores content objects receivedfrom third parties. The third-party content objects includeinformational content objects, such as movie show times, restaurantmenus, etc., as well as incentive content objects, such as coupons,discount tickets, gift certificates, etc. In addition, some third-partycontent objects may include a combination of information and incentives.

The location store 255 stores location information received from userdevices 110 associated with users. The location information used by thesocial networking system 130 may be obtained directly from user devices110, e.g., at the time a notification is to be sent or at variouspredetermined time intervals, or the location information may be a laststored location received from the user device 110. In addition, thelocation store 255 may receive updated location information, e.g., inresponse to a change in the location of a user device 110. In oneembodiment, if an updated location is received, the updated location isprovided to the relevance and ranking engine 225 for re-ranking and/orre-selecting the third-party content objects in view of the updatedlocation information.

In general, the selection or ranking of content objects may occur atvarying intervals based on several variables, such as always at thebeginning of a period during which a notification would be served, orevery X minutes during a period during which notifications will beserved, or every X minutes all the time (e.g., so that it's ready when asearch happens), only in response to a change in location or expirationof a delivery time for a content object, etc. Alternatively, the rankingof content objects may occur as a result of user demand. The user mayexplicitly request the ranking by submitting a request for relevantinformation happening within the vicinity of the user. The request maybe received in response to user selection of a “refresh” elementincluded in a user application associated with the present disclosure.The request may also be implicit. For example, upon launching of theuser application, a request may be automatically received for theranking.

The social networking system 130 implements context search using acontext search module 280. Context search results are search resultsthat are relevant to the user based on their current location as well astheir social information. In this way, the context search results aretailored to the user's interests, connections, and location at the timeof the search. The context search module 280 incorporates locationinformation, search results and relevance score information obtainedfrom the relevance and ranking engine 225 in order to provide a rankedlist of search results and/or for selection of third-party contentobjects as the basis for serving notifications.

The ad pricing module 285 combines social information, the current time,and location information to provide relevant advertisements, in the formof notifications, to a user. Advertisements of increased relevance to auser are more likely to result in a purchase. Dividing consumersaccording to their interests based on social information allowsmerchants to calculate the value of their potential customers.Advertisements provided through the social networking system 130 may bepriced according to the value of the customer to the merchant, asindicated by their social information.

In one embodiment, the UI (or User Interface) module 290 is configuredto display a map containing pins on a user device 110, where each pinrepresents a content object in actionable proximity to a user (e.g., anearby friend, deal, etc.). The content objects selected to be presentedas pins to the user are those content objects with sufficiently highrelevance scores. Multiple pins for a nearby area can be clustered. TheUI module 290 provides the user with the ability to switch between zoomlevels for the map, thereby showing pins at varying distances from theuser's current location (e.g., nearby, close, and far). In oneembodiment, the zoom levels are based on the existence of relevantcontent rather than being predetermined distances from the user.

In one embodiment, the UI module 290 is configured to display a rankedlist of search results on a client device 110 that have been ranked bythe context search module 280. The UI module 290 is additionallyconfigured to generate an advertisement dashboard for merchantsadvertising through the social networking system 130. The advertisementdashboard allows merchants to control the distribution and price theypay for their advertisements. For both functions, the UI module isconfigured to generate a user interface that a client device 110 or athird-party content object provider (or merchant) 120 may interact with.

An inference module 275 determines overlapping interests between usersin the social networking system 130. By determining the overlappinginterests between a user and his or her friends, the inference module275 may identify which interests may be imputed to the user based on theinterests of the user's friends. Thus, through the user's friends, theinference module 275 allows the social networking system 130 to identifyinterests for the user that are not explicitly indicated by the user.

The third-party content object store 250 stores content objects receivedfrom third parties. The third-party content objects includeinformational content objects, such as movie show times, movie reviews,restaurant reviews, restaurant menus, product information and reviews,etc., as well as incentive content objects, such as coupons, discounttickets, gift certificates, etc. In addition, some third-party contentobjects may include a combination of information and incentives.

The location store 255 stores location information received from userdevices associated with users. The location information used by thesocial networking system 130 may be obtained directly from user devices110, e.g., at the time a notification is to be sent or at variouspredetermined time intervals, or the location information may be a laststored location received from the user device 110. The locationinformation may also be obtained along with a request from a user. Inaddition, the location store 255 may receive updated locationinformation, e.g., in response to a change in the location of a userdevice 110. In one embodiment, if an updated location is received, theupdated location is provided to the relevance and ranking engine 225 forre-ranking and or re-selection of the content objects in view of theupdated location information.

Providing Location Based, Relevant Content Objects for a SocialNetworking System User

FIG. 3 is an interaction diagram of one embodiment of a process forresponding to a request for information relevant to a user of a socialnetworking system based on user location and social information.

Initially, users, via user devices 110 interact 305 with each other viathe social networking system 130 and with the social networking system130 directly, providing it information about the user such as userinterest and connection information. The social networking system 130maintains 310 the user social information (e.g., interest and connectioninformation for each user. For example, the social networking system 130may categorize the interest information into categories.

The social networking system 130 also receives 315 third-party contentobjects from one or more third parties 120. The third-party contentobjects may include informational content objects, such as movie showtimes, movie reviews, sale information, restaurant menus, etc., as wellas incentive content objects, such as coupons, discount tickets, giftcertificates, etc. In addition, some third-party content objects mayinclude a combination of information and incentives.

The social networking system 130 receives 320 a request from arequesting user for information regarding relevant, nearby contentobjects. The user request may include information about the location ofthe user device 110. This information may be obtained directly from theuser device 110, e.g., at the time of the request, at the time anotification is to be sent or at various time intervals, or the socialnetworking system 130 may retrieve a last stored location for the userdevice 110. In addition, when a user device 110 changes locations, theupdated location information may be provided to the social networkingsystem 130. Alternatively, the user may provide a location specifying aconstraint on the kinds of content objects in which they are interested.

Content objects, (including both user-generated and third-party contentobjects) are assigned 325 categories, locations, and delivery timeranges. For example, categories may be established by the socialnetworking system 130 that reflect various categories of interests ofusers of the social networking system 130. The categories may beassociated with the interests themselves, e.g., if a user “likes” anarticle about a brand of shoes, the category may be the brand.Alternatively, the social networking system 130 may assign the articleabout the shoe brand a general category of “shoes” or “clothing.” Thesocial networking system 130 may assign both of these categories to asingle content object; thus, multiple categories may apply to a singlecontent object. For example, for an incentive offering 20% off aspecialty coffee drink at a particular coffee shop, the promotion may beassigned a category “food,” type “beverage,” and subtype “coffee.” Thesetags can be matched to categories associated with user interests.

Locations may be assigned to content objects as well. For example, acoupon for $2.00 off of a movie ticket at a particular movie theaterchain may apply to all theaters in the chain, or just one theatre. Alocation may be general, e.g., a city, or specific, e.g., a particularstreet name, or intersection, or GPS coordinate. One or more suchlocations are assigned to each content object. Finally, a delivery timerange is assigned to a content object. The range may reflect appropriatehours for the item. For example, if the content object is a coupon for adonut store that is open only in the morning, the range for thenotification likely would correspond to the hours during which the donutstore is open, or some other useful range related to the open hours,e.g., fifteen minutes before opening to thirty minutes before closing.

The social networking system 130 calculates 330 a relevance score foreach content object relative to the requesting user. The socialnetworking system 130 uses the location, interest, time, and connectioninformation for the user and the content objects to calculate the score.For example, the social networking system 130 may first calculate scoresfor each of these categories that are combined to get the relevancescore.

In one embodiment, for each content object the social networking system130 determines a location value based on the proximity between thecontent object location and a current location associated with the userdevice 110. The social networking system 130 also determines an interestvalue based on whether the category or categories assigned to thecontent object are included in the category or categories associatedwith the user's interests. The social networking system 130 alsodetermines a time value based on whether the current time is within thedelivery time range for the content object. For example, a discountcoupon for lunch at a restaurant may be associated with lunch hours andis accordingly of higher interest during the hours commonly associatedwith lunch. And the social networking system 130 determines a connectionvalue based on how many, if any, of the user's connections areassociated with the content object. For example, a connection associatedwith the content object may include information or an incentive for abusiness that one of the user's connections is currently at, e.g., aconnection of the user is at the frozen yogurt store that the incentiveapplies to. Then, the social networking system 130 combines the locationvalue, interest value, connection value, and time value to determine therelevance score for the content object with respect to the user. In oneembodiment the values are higher for a better fit (closer proximity,great similarity, etc.) and approach one, and are multiplied together toyield the relevance score.

From the relevance scores of the content objects, the social networkingsystem 130 selects 335 the content objects for a user, e.g., from aranking of highest relevance score to lowest, or by selection of thehighest relevance scored items. The social networking system 130responds to the user's request for relevant content objects. The contentobjects are provided to the user. In one embodiment, the UI module 290renders information regarding the content objects, for example in theform of a map with pins. In one embodiment, the social networking system130 receives a request user from a user for only a single contentobject. In this case, the social networking system provides the contentobject with the highest relevance score to the requesting user.

Once a user is exposed to a content object, the social networking system130 stores that exposure. In addition, the social networking system 130monitors whether the user uses an incentive associated with the contentobject, goes to the location of the information, or otherwise becomesassociated with the content object, and if so, the social networkingsystem 130 stores that information.

Map with Pins Illustrating Relevant, Nearby Content Objects Requested bya User

FIG. 4 is a series of sample screenshots illustrating how a clientdevice 110 may display information regarding nearby activities relevantto a user of a social networking system 130 responsive to the user'srequest. In FIG. 4a , a map 410 illustrates the real world region aroundthe requesting user. The map 410 displays a number of content objects415 that have been determined to be the most relevant content objectsaccording to their relevance scores, which are based in part on therequesting user's location.

Content objects are presented as pins (e.g., pins A 415 a, B 415 b, andC 415 c) based on the real world locations where the requesting user mayinteract with the real world entity associated with the content objects.For example, the content object may be a third-party content objectcomprising a coupon for a free smoothie at a smoothie store. In thisexample, pin 415 may represent the location of the smoothie store wherethe coupon is redeemable. In another example, pin 415 may represent thelocation where three of their friends are currently located.

In some circumstances, multiple content objects presented to therequesting user as pins 415 may be in such close proximity in the realworld, that the map 410 is unable to display the multiple pins in aseparate, independently identifiable manner. In one embodiment, pins inclose proximity are grouped into a single, differently shaped group pin420 that represents multiple content objects at once. A group pin 420may visually indicate the number of pins 415 contained within the grouppin 420. For example, group pin 420 a indicates that three separate pinsare contained within the group pin 420 a.

In response to a request for information from a user, map 410 initiallydisplays the area immediately surrounding the user. The user, however,may change the real world area illustrated by map 410. The user may alsochange the level of zoom at which the surrounding real world area isshown. FIG. 4a further illustrates that the requesting user is presentedwith multiple zoom settings 405 to allow a requesting user to switchbetween different zoom levels of the surrounding environment. In theexample embodiment of FIG. 4a , the zoom levels include the immediatevicinity of the requesting user 405 a as the highest granularity zoomlevel, a nearby zoom level 405 b including a larger swath of thesurrounding area as compared with the immediate vicinity 405 a, and afar away zoom level 405 c that covers a much larger scope than theprevious two zoom levels. FIG. 4a illustrates a map 410 displayed at theimmediate vicinity 405 a zoom level.

In one embodiment, the zoom levels are based on absolute distances fromthe requesting user. For example, in the immediate vicinity 405 a, themap 410 may cover one square mile, whereas the nearby zoom level 405 bcovers five square miles, and the far away zoom level 405 c covers fiftysquare miles. In another embodiment, zoom levels may be based in partupon the geographical location of the users, whereby zoom levels arespecified for various cities, states, and suburban areas. For example,if the user is located in the bay area of California, the far away zoomlevel 405 c may be the entire bay area rather than fixed fifty miledistance.

Map 410 is configured to display only a limited number of pins 415 orblock pins 420. The number of pins 415 or block pins 420 displayed maybe determined by the social networking system 130 or the requestinguser. In one embodiment, the number of pins 415 or block pins 420 is afixed amount. In another embodiment, the number of pins 415 or blockpins 420 is based on a relevance score threshold. Only content objectsabove the relevance score threshold are displayed as part of pins 415 orblock pins 420. The relevance score threshold may vary depending uponthe zoom level. For example, at a immediate vicinity zoom level 405 a,there may be comparatively few content objects that are present toprovide to the requesting user, and thus the relevance score thresholdfor this zoom level may be lower. In contrast, at a far away zoom level405 c, there may be many more content objects as compared to theimmediate vicinity zoom level 405 a case, and as a result the relevancescore threshold for this zoom level may be higher. Thus, a requestinguser changing from a smaller zoom level to a larger zoom level mayreflect the user's interest in receiving information about more relevantcontent objects, despite the fact that they are further away from therequesting user's present location. Adjusting the relevance scorethreshold based on zoom level ensures that the user is always presentedwith a sufficient, but not excessive, number of pins 415 and block pins420 to interact with.

FIG. 4b illustrates the map 410 at the nearby zoom level 405 b. In theexample embodiment of FIG. 4b , group pin 420 b indicates that itincludes six pins, for example group pin 420 a and pins 420 a, 420 b,and 420 c, along with three others that were not present in map 410 asdisplayed in FIG. 4a . FIG. 4b further includes two new pins 415 d, and415 e.

FIG. 4c illustrates the map 410 at the far away zoom level 405 c. Grouppins 420 d and 420 c include ten and five pins, respectively. Pins 415 gand 415 f represent individual content objects that are sufficiently farfrom other pins to be displayed separately from group pins, despite thearea covered by map 410.

FIG. 4d illustrates a user interface presenting a requesting user withmore information about a selected content object 445 illustrated by apin 415 a. In one embodiment, map 410 still presents the selected pin,however the map has been reduced in size with respect to the totalscreen area of the user device 110. The user interface presentsinformation about the selected content object 445. The presentedinformation may include, for example, the users of the social networkingsystem 130 who have indicated affinity for the content object who arealso connected to the requesting user through the social networkingsystem, comments on the content object made by users connected with therequesting user through the social networking system, and/or a list ofusers connected with the requesting user through the social networkingsystem who are currently present at the real-world location associatedwith the content object.

SUMMARY

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has beenpresented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed.Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the abovedisclosure.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of theinvention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations ofoperations on information. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are commonly used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively toothers skilled in the art. These operations, while describedfunctionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits,microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient attimes, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, withoutloss of generality. The described operations and their associatedmodules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or anycombinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing computerprogram code, which can be executed by a computer processor forperforming any or all of the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus forperforming the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfiguredby a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer programmay be stored in a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storagemedium, or any type of media suitable for storing electronicinstructions, which may be coupled to a computer system bus.Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification mayinclude a single processor or may be architectures employing multipleprocessor designs for increased computing capability.

Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a product that isproduced by a computing process described herein. Such a product maycomprise information resulting from a computing process, where theinformation is stored on a non-transitory, tangible computer readablestorage medium and may include any embodiment of a computer programproduct or other data combination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited notby this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsof the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, ofthe scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: maintaining socialinformation for a user, the social information comprising the user'sinterests; accessing a plurality of content objects, each content objectassociated with a geographic location, a category, and a delivery timerange; receiving a request for information from a user device; receivinga user location from the user device; determining a relevance score forthe content objects, where determining the relevance score for at leastone of the content objects comprises: determining that the user locationis within a proximity of the content object's geographic location;determining that the user's interests from the maintained socialinformation for the user matches the content object's category; anddetermining that a current time is within the content object's deliverytime range; ranking the content objects by theft relevance scores;determining a zoom level of a map to display to the user: determining arelevance score threshold based on the zoom level of the map: selectingone or more of the content objects by applying the relevance scores ofthe content objects to the threshold: and sending the map with theselected content objects displayed on the map at the zoom level to theuser device for display to the user.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinmaintaining the social information further comprises: maintaining aplurality of connections between the user and other users of the socialnetworking system.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining therelevance score for the at least one of the content objects furthercomprises: determining a connection value for the content object, theconnection value based on a number of the user's plurality ofconnections associated with the content object.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein one of the content objects has an action associated with it,and wherein determining that the current time is within the contentobject's delivery time range comprises determining that the action canbe performed by the user within the delivery time range.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein the request received from the user includes the userlocation.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a userexposure to one of the at least one content objects.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, further comprising adjusting the relevance score of the contentobject for which a user exposure was stored.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving indication of an action by the userassociated with one of the content objects; and storing an associationbetween the user and the content object in response to the receivedindication.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting ahighest ranked content object from the ranked content objects to theuser device for display to the user.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinthe plurality of content objects comprises third-party content objectsprovided by third-parties, and content objects formed based oninteractions of users with the social networking system.
 11. A methodcomprising: transmitting from a user device at a user location and arequest for information to a social networking system configured todetermine a relevance score for a plurality of content objectsassociated with a geographic location, a category, and a delivery timerange, the social networking system determining the relevance score forat least one of the content objects comprising determining that the userlocation is within a proximity of the content object's geographiclocation, determining that the user's interests from social informationof the user matches the content object's category, and determining thata current time is within the content object's delivery time range;receiving at the user device a ranked list of content objects based onthe relevance score, each content object comprising: the geographiclocation that is within a proximity of the user location; the categorythat matches a user interest stored by the social networking system; thedelivery time range where a current time is within the delivery timerange; identifying a zoom level of a map to display; displaying a mapcomprising a plurality of pins displaying the geographic locations ofthe content objects, wherein each pin is associated with one of thecontent objects, each pin displays the rank of the content object, andcontent objects are selected for display by applying relevance scores ofthe content objects to a relevance score threshold based on a zoomlevel.
 12. The method of claim 11, comprising: displaying a plurality ofselectable zoom levels that change the zoom level.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the plurality of selectable zoom levels are based onfixed distances.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality ofselectable zoom levels are based on geographical regions.
 15. The methodof claim 12, wherein the plurality of selectable zoom levels are basedon relevance score thresholds.
 16. The method of claim 11, comprising:displaying a group pin representing the locations of a plurality ofassociated content objects, wherein the content objects associated withthe group pins are located within a proximity of each other.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the group pin displays the number of contentobjects it is associated with.